Fireguard
by Renadavi
Summary: Military AU. Oneshot. Sergeant Wang is on duty. Chie and Aoi are stuck pulling a double fireguard shift at night. Things really starts to grow boring so it's time to change it up some.


_A/N: Surprise, I wrote something but it's unfortunately not Wolf's Heart. It's written on the phone, as well as a simple draft, so it may be weird. Came up with this idea during lunch chow yesterday and meant to upload last night but I passed the fuck out. Being on this military installation is bringing back memories of my training which some of this is loosely based on my training experiences and does not reflect other soldier's individual training experiences._

 _Terminology:_

 _BCT: Basic combat training. Boot camp. Recruits learn basic skills of a soldier._

 _AIT: Advanced Individual Training. Follows basic where soldiers go to learn about their MOS (military occupational specialty a.k.a job) and qualify._

 _PT: Physical Training. Series of exercises usually conducted early in the morning._

 _APFT: Army Physical Fitness Test. Or referred to as a PT Test. It tests one's ability to perform a certain amount of push-ups and sit-ups in 2 minutes and how fast you can run 2 miles._

 _Battle Buddy: Or just Battle. Another soldier that helps you both in and out of combat. Pretty much peers that watch out for each other in both physical and mental wellbeing, make sure one another is doing the right thing, and in the right place._

 _Bed Check: Trainees' names are checked off every night before bed to ensure everyone is in the barracks or at least accounted for if they are not._

 _CQ: Charge of Quarters. Usually a sergeant and another servicemember monitors traffic in and out of the building for 24 hours in which they are not allowed to sleep or drink alcohol. Duties may include checking soldiers are in the barracks at night._

 _Fireguard: Mainly done in training with the idea to teach you how to be on guard duty. At night while everybody is sleeping you will quietly patrol the barracks to ensure everybody gets woken up in case of a fire, to help prevent theft, or other breach of_ _regulations such as recruits leaving the barracks._

* * *

~Fireguard~

Chie and Aoi exited their barracks room, hearing the door shut heavily behind them. The card reader installed, that only accepted their ID cards, clicked lock. Stepping out into the lit corridor other room doors lined the hall and only a few security cameras were mounted overhead. Even after only a month since arriving in AIT on Fort Hime they still could not get over the fact they had two or three person barracks rooms now. With no bunks and their own bathroom to boot! It was so much better than basic training where they shared a large open room with fifty other stressed females, bunk beds, open showers and all.

No stair climbing most of all, Chie sighed with a smile. With only eight females in the entire company, they possessed the entire first floor. Unlike the hundred of males in the company who occupied the four floors above.

Wordlessly, Aoi adjusted her PT uniform that doubled as their pajamas, consisting of the soft wine red shirt marked with ARMY on the front and black shorts for the warmer climate. "Your shirt's untucked," Chie grinned stepping beside her.

The brunette gave a relieved sigh, knowing uniform regulations stated they always had their shirt tucked. Among the regs for appearance was much more, including that she had to have her hair up in a neat bun, "Thanks Chie," she tucked in her shirt and smiled.

"No probs, battle." Chie grinned wider, placing a hand on the shorter girl's head, "Tokiha, Minagi, Okuzaki, and Fujino are there already."

Peering down the hall, some of the ladies were indeed already standing there in front of the opening where the CQ desk stood just outside. Some sat or sprawled out on the floor with their phones, just awaiting the sergeant to start bed check and allow them to just drop back down in bed to sleep. The CQ sergeant, Sergeant Wang, manned the desk with two other male trainees, the surface of the desk loaded with snacks and energy drinks for his mandatory all nighter to monitor the barracks. Another thing the girls were thankful for was the sheer amount of male soldiers outnumbering them. It alone only gave them CQ shifts once a month.

Making their way towards the end of the hall, Chie fist bumped Mai, "Yo, how were classes today?"

"Fun!" Mikoto sprang up from her spot on the ground, jumping on her roommate and also classmate, Mai.

The motherly redhead seemed completely unbothered by her friend clinging onto her like a koala and waved a hand, "We finally got to start fixing things instead of those boring classes."

"Ara, at least you get to do that Tokiha-san," Shizuru jumped in, a hand over her smiling mouth, "we're still going over theory of operations in my classes."

"Shouldn't have chosen that long ass MOS, Fujino," Chie jested, "You'll be here longer than all of us! You'll be like the gran here, seeing tons of newbies ship in every few weeks," she grinned. They had each arrived the previous month after BCT. Curiously enough, the previous women of the hall were all graduating at the same time and left only a few weeks after their arrival. Whatever they had to teach them about the company still remained untaught, leaving the ladies to refer to the senior male trainees in times of confusion for advice or tips on how the company worked and little loopholes they could jump through.

They laughed at Shizuru's prolonged imprisonment in AIT. Anything amused them at any point when it came to waiting on the sergeants, any conversation flowed. Aoi turned to Akira sitting silently, but smirking herself, "How was your mod test today, Okuzaki?"

The EOD student gave a hum. Truly Okuzaki's kind was rare; a female aspiring to become an EOD. It was a dangerous job and truly difficult class to take, as eighty percent of soldiers failed. Only one test needed to be failed in the few weeks they had to be selected to the next phase of their training. Most new arrivals failed their first mod test. They respected her efforts and hoped she would pass the selection process, as the company had not seen a female pass in quite a while. Akira stood up and gave a clever smile, "I passed."

The other women sighed in relief, "Great! Don't scare us like that," Aoi laughed, "You made me think you failed."

"Nah, that'd never happen. I hope." Akira smirked, completely confident in her abilities, "I can't afford to fail and reclass to another MOS."

Chie saw Shizuru and Akira were in uniform instead of PTs, the digital camouflage trousers and blouses neatly pressed and good looking on the two's forms, "First fireguard, you two?"

"Ah," Akira nodded. Fiddling with the patrol cap in her hands, something she did not need to have out since they were indoors.

"Though the eight of us wouldn't have to pull two person, two hour shifts had Yuuki-han not snuck out two weeks ago." Shizuru gave a little sigh. "They never gave us fireguard because there's only eight of us and CQ has first floor." The crimson eyed brunette peered at Sergeant Wang at the desk.

"Yeah, I've been so tired." Mikoto rubbed her eyes, "And we always have to get up at four for PT at five."

"It does suck we're all getting punished for her, but that's how this life rolls," Chie shrugged. She operated well with little sleep and really was not one to complain, "They pretty much own us!" She said nonchalantly and rested her hands behind her head.

Aoi stared at the ground as Chie made the comment, her eyes lowering in thought. They pretty much do, she thought. Still, she picked up her head and followed the comment on fireguard, "We can only hope First Sergeant eases up soon." Aoi rubbed the back of her head, leaning against the wall, phone in hand. Having electronics again was yet another wonderful privilege of AIT. As young adults, their bank accounts were their responsibility. Unfortunately, most privates blew away their paychecks on unneeded luxuries on the weekends-the new phone was Aoi's one time exception.

"Speaking of which, here comes Yuuki and Kuga," Chie folded her arms with her usual signature grin. She hollered down the hall, "Bout time y'all showed up!"

Nao rolled her eyes and Natsuki just shrugged with a glare to her roommate. From the bluenette's expression anyone cold have guessed the two were at each other's throats again. Truly, it was difficult to imagine anyone else rooming with Nao and frankly no one wanted to. Although particularly clean and overall a squared away soldier, Nao's vicious tongue and tendency to be a night owl interfered with her roommate's studies and sleep. The weekends, especially, proved unbearable as they could stay up late without consequence and typically only one or two sergeants were present. Frankly, Natsuki was more up to the task of being Nao's roommate than anyone else.

Kuga just left her roommate's side and began speaking to Shizuru, a light blush visible on her pale cheeks as the crimson-eyed brunette threw out a flirtatious comment. The girls paid no kind and knew well what was going on between the two. Fraternization was common in any training installation but people tended to mind their business with the relationships that happened around them. The biggest deal was male-female fraternization-for obvious reasons.

The redheaded rebel's eyes met Chie and Aoi's for a brief second, pulled away, and looked at them again, "Say... Harada, Senou."

"What is it?" They asked in unison, eyebrows craned in question.

"Can you two take our fireguard shift tonight? Do it for a battle buddy?" the green eyed redhead begged, hands clasped together in front of the blue eyed brunette and the black haired woman, brown eyes framed by black rimmed glasses. Begging was something she rarely did, but in this instance, she needed it.

Mouth agape, Chie stuck her head out the door and Aoi's followed just below her chest. They peered at the whiteboard next to the CQ desk containing important announcements, times, CQ, and fireguard times. They found Natsuki and Nao's names on the roster and instantly pulled back into the hallway. Aoi's arms crossed to create a big fat X and Chie unabashedly raised her voice, "Oh hell no! Two to four shift sucks! It ends at wake up!"

Nao's hands seemed to clased tighter together, "Aw, please, battle. We have a PT test tomorrow it's gonna suck with five hours of sleep! I can't run two miles like that," she whined.

"Damn, that sucks," Akira felt sympathetic. Then again, it was Nao's doing that they now had fireguard. But such luck they had to get the worst shift the day before a PT test.

The blue haired girl beside Shizuru jumped in too and rubbed the back of her neck before her arm fell and folded over the other, "I honestly don't care if I do a PT test with low gas, I can manage..." Natsuki shrugged, one of the best PT studs in the hallway with her physical scores, "But it would be nice if you guys do us this solid. It is Friday tomorrow after all."

Nao suddenly suggested, "I'll make it up to you Harada, Senou, if you do. What do you want?"

The two girls looked at each other a moment and whispered to each other. Honestly, Natsuki's request inclined them to accept before Nao's proposal came in but they just had to accept and Aoi answered first, "This weekend when we get a day pass, you two are paying for our movie tickets!" The entire female floor had planned to see a new movie off base during the weekend since they saw its trailer. Going off base occasionally kept their sanity in tact for the most part.

"And paying for our dinner. At Maki's. Oh, as well as helping us pay for stuff for a week if we go to the cafe during class breaks." Chie grinned with a wink. The girls behind them lit up at the payments they asked of Nao. The soldiers wanted food and entertainment. No amount of money mattered with they paychecks they each received.

"Haahh?" Nao stepped back, "That's a lot of shit." She did not mind the movie or cafe, but Maki's for eight people?

"You asked us what we wanted. This ain't all out, either. We could make this worse," Chie teased, trying not to go over the line.

Nao's eyebrow visibly twitched and drew laughter from the others, "That joint's expensive..." she mumbled, remembering the hibachi/sushi bar was ridiculously priced but ridiculously delicious.

"What was that? Couldn't hear." Chie bent down, cupping a hand around her ear, "Gotta speak up, private-OW!"

Nao had grabbed and pinched her ear, pulling it down, "Don't be an ass Harada, deal." She growled, internally mourning for her next paycheck.

Aoi, pleased by the deal and now not at all dismayed by lost sleep, clapped her hands, "Wonderful! Thanks, Yuuki!"

"Thanks, Yuuki~" the rest of the girls sang in unison.

"Yeah, thanks Nao," Natsuki gave the smallest smirk.

Finally noticing Natsuki's lack of involvment in the deal even though it was her shift as well, Nao bursted out, "Hey! You weren't even asked to pay them anything, how the fu-"

"Bed check!" Mikoto screamed joyfully, jumping from Mai's back.

Indeed, Sergeant Wang had finally gotten up from the CQ desk and came to the open door with a clipboard. The scar across his face as visible as ever, and blonde hair cropped messily, Sergey looked a combat veteran. Although harden looking, the man was a rather kind, gentle soul, the kind to play around with his soldiers. "Alright, bed check. Get in room number order and have your ID cards out."

The female soldiers quickly lined up, Akira and Shizuru the first room, then Nao and Natsuki, Mai and Mikoto, and finally Chie and Aoi. The handsome young soldier looked back at Aoi behind her, giving her a wink. They agreed what they were getting was so worth the loss of sleep.

...

Aoi shifted in bed as the phone alarm went off. Turning to look at the screen, the brightness nearly blinded her in the darkness. 23:35, her clock read. They needed to get in uniform and relieve the previous shift from their duty in ten minutes. Shifting again, she blinked feeling something weighing her down. Soon, her ears picked up soft breathing and her skin the touch of soft hair that blended with the darkness.

The brunette turned on the bedside lamp and looked down at Chie curled up next to her, an arm draped over her abdomen. "I swear she won't stay in her bed... She may as well share with me so we can make one bed in the morning," she said to herself, recalling all the times Chie had slept a few more minutes, rushing and forgetting to make her bed. They would always return from class to see Chie's mattress flipped and on the ground-something Sergeant Sugiura loved doing to remind them AIT was not a joke, as well as for the reason she found it entertaining.

Aoi almost did not want to wake her secret partner up, but saw on the phone three minutes had already passed. She lightly blushed, seeing the older woman sleep, hair a complete mess, but face peaceful. She could not believe the luck they had with their room assignment. She sighed and placed a hand on Chie's shoulder, gently shaking, "Chie, we gotta get up."

An instant groan came from Chie and she shifted to press her face in Aoi's stomach, "Five more minutes..."

As difficult as ever to wake up. Honestly how did she do it in basic, Aoi thought. She placed her hands in the soft jet black hair and ruffled it up, "Come on, we gotta relieve Tokiha and Minagi, Chie. Movies, Maki's, and cafe remember?" When no response came Aoi rolled her eyes. She took Chie's hand, feeling the lightly calloused hands, and slowly brought it to her lips. She kissed it softly as she was unable to bend over and kiss the handsome woman directly, "Come on, get up." She said softly with a smile.

Another low groan of protest, but sure enough, Chie slowly sat up. She looked like hell with barely four hours of sleep and grabbed the glasses at the night stand in a zombie-like motion. After three or so attempts, the glasses were finally in her grasp and they found their place on the bridge of her nose, masking tired eyes. Aoi still found her attractive as she was and kissed her again, this time on the cheek.

She slipped off the bed and grabbed her uniform laid out on a desk chair. Grabbing a larger uniform beside it, she threw it at Chie who just sat there, taking the heavy camouflaged trousers and blouse fully to the face. With a raised hand as gravity pulled down the uniform, she mumbled, "I'm coming..."

With a loud yawn from Chie, the pair stepped into the blinding hallway. The other half of the hall further down had it's lights off, no occupants other than the eight girls in the four rooms near the front end. Chie had combed her hair in a lazy fashion, her hair always bordering breaking regulations and always just enough to be in the safe zone. Aoi had pulled her long hair in a quick bun, buttoning her sleeve closed as they walked to the front of the hall.

Sitting on chairs, playing what seemed to be a tense game of Uno, was Mai and Mikoto. They showed early signs of struggle to stay awake and had a sudden burst of energy hearing the boots tapping a few feet away. They perked up, looked over, and waved. Aoi noticed the brooms leaning against the wall beside them as the hallway was spotless.

"Good morning, ladies," Chie yawned loudly.

Mai scoffed, not at all angry at Chie-simply just grumpy from having her sleep interrupted as usual by their fireguard, "More like goodnight." She stood, cleaning off the cards, "Have a good shift you guys," the redhead yawned and staggered off, swiping her card at her room door and disappearing inside.

Mikoto, too, got up with a small friendly smile, but her voice showed the exhaustion that her face did not, "Thanks for relieving us so early," she pushed in the rolling chair, "I'll buy energy drinks in the morning before class, okay? My treat!" Her smile broadened, the young girl seemingly more mature than she acted.

With a smirk, Chie nodded as Aoi sat down in Mai's chair, "Thanks, Mikoto. Much appreciated."

"Hai, hai," the tiny soldier nodded and left to return to her room, pulling off her uniform top just before opening the door.

Aoi suddenly felt the exhaustion from waking up just before midnight and had her head to the wall. Chie giggled at the sight, "I'll check out the cleaning duties and grab a soda from the vending machine for ya," the brunette simply nodded as she placed a hand on Aoi's shoulder and walked out to the CQ desk.

"New shift, coming through," Chie sang out tiredly and in a rather monotonous tone as she walked up to the whiteboard.

Sergeant Wang nodded, chugging down another shot of energy drink, just watching the videos on the computer to stay awake. He leaned back and met eyes with her, "Oh, Private Harada, didn't sound like you for a moment."

"That so, sergeant?" Chie chuckled weakly, looking at the cleaning duties for their shift as well as Natsuki and Nao's, "You'll have us for four hours sarge. Yuuki and Kuga have a PT test in the morning so we took over."

"That's rather kind of you to do for your battles. They're sure to do better." He rested his hands behind his head, returning his attention to the computer screen.

"Well, we did get something out of it, sergeant," she smiled, finding the cleaning duties. Clean the day room windows and mop. Wonderful. Drinks came first, though, as she walked past CQ to the vending machine.

Sergey, however, stopped her, "Harada, the privates on CQ should have it covered but keep an ear out just in case, okay? I'm going to head to my car to grab something, look around outside and then check each floor so I won't be around a while." He stood up, straightened out his uniform, and grabbed his patrol cap on the desk.

"Roger," she replied, tiredly, watching as he left.

Once gone, she ventured to the vending machine and returned to Aoi who had just stepped out of the supply closet to return the brooms to their rightful place, "Day room windows and mop," Chie called out to her. She held out the soda can to the brunette as she approached.

Aoi graciously accepted it and popped it open, taking a few gulps. Hopefully, the caffiene would kick in soon, "Let's just mop first and wash windows later. That way we have something to do later." She yawned and finished off the rest of the can, stepping into the day room while doing so.

"Okie doke." Chie sat on the chair in front of her and rolled into the closest room with Aoi. The brunette rolled her eyes with an amused smile, hearing the wheels roll behind her and the older woman making sounds like an excited child.

The female day room was completed with a TV consisting of only three cable channels, a DVD player, a microwave, a table, and chairs. Aoi threw away her quickly eradicated soda can, hearing the wheels stop rolling behind her and a small creak. The older woman's arms came around the blue-eyed brunette's waist.

The sensation of warm lips pressing against the back of her neck began, the ocassional scrape of teeth pressing down drawing soft breaths from her. Pleasureable as it was, Aoi spun around to meet Chie directly. With no space between their bodies, Aoi was practically sitting on the table, hands resting on Chie's chest and legs straddling her waist. Aoi's action stopped Chie, "Not feeling it?" She asked huskily in such a manner that sent a wave through Aoi's spine.

Aoi shook her head, "It's not that, sergeant could walk in at any moment..." she mumbled, staring at the cornerfed door, "He is making rounds after all." Closing the door provided no protection as the square window allowed anyone to look inside and see everything like a fishtank. Not to mention they needed to be at their post. There were just too many restrictions.

"Very true." Chie smirked and laughed lightly, "That'd be damn awkward."

"It would be," Aoi pushed up Chie's glasses in her stead, "Especially with how you get." She chuckled.

"Now, now, no need to mention that." The black-haired woman grinned mischievously. She rested back in her chair, letting her fingers trail from Aoi's waist, past it, and down the athletic thighs. With so much as a small smirk, the child was back and spun away on the wheeled chair and back to the hallway, "Mop now?"

Aoi could not help but ruffle the already messy hair as Chie rolled closer, "Yep."

Rising to her feet, Chie opened the supply room and in a few minutes, they had two mops and a filled mop bucket, as well as clean, freshly unpackaged towels for the windows that they stuffed in cargo pockets and spray they placed in the day room. The water sloshed about as they rolled it out, bringing it to the far side of the hall.

About half way through Chie had started to fall asleep at her mop, a sight so funny to Aoi she snapped a picture before tapping on her shoulder. The private jump and looked at Aoi, rubbing her eyes, followed by a vigorous shake of her head in a vain attempt to rid herself of exhaustion, "I'm sorry... Jesus what time is it?"

Peering down at the phone in her hands, the brunette sighed, "01:05. Three more hours to go."

The taller soldier groaned and leaned on her mop, "PT at five and class at nine. We are so dead." She chuckled accepting her fate. After some silence, she gave a stare at Aoi and smiled broadly.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Oh, it's something..." Aoi eyed her suspiciously.

Seeing Chie's hand on the clean wash cloth hanging out her pocket, the brunette instantly knew to move her head back, barely avoiding the cloth swinging by her face, "Hey, don't you dare start this game!" She said with a smirk herself, grabbing the towel at her waist.

Chie did not say a word and just grinned at her with a 'come at me' expression as she took the water bottle in her cargo pocket and wet the towel. She flicked it, the icy water flying at Aoi, making her squeal quietly so no one sleeping could hear. The brunette chased the older woman down the hall, paying mind to the wet trail forming behind Chie as she ran, dragging the dirty mop along.

Their fun to alleviate the boredom was short lived as Chie bumped into a much taller form near the end of the hallway. Shit. She froze, "The fuck are you two doing? That doesn't look like cleaning." Sergey grinned, his face looking especially scarier than usual.

"Oh, just trying to make it a bit more fun, sergeant." Chie popped to parade rest addressing him, the sudden action causing the mop to slip out of her hands. She tried to catch it, but missed the wood creating a loud sound in the silent hallway. She flinched and grinned broadly.

Sergey's grin widened and they knew something was coming. He was a kind NCO, but one that loved playing with soldiers. He would always joke around with the girls and they with him. They knew he wasn't angry, just bored. "I can make it fun for you if you want." His voice possessed a mischievous tone.

Placing her mop in the bucket, Aoi shook her head, "No, sarge, no fun here. Cleaning shouldn't be fun," she laughed nervously, beginning to clean.

With a wave of his hand, he picked up Chie's mop and walked over, "Nah, nah, let's make this fun! A little entertainment since we're so bored here." Sergey drenched the mop and, without straining out the water, slapped it on the floor, drenching the rest of the hallway. The pine scented cleaner filled the hallway as he made more wet blotches along the way and the two privates just stared.

"Aw, sergeant, no," Chie groaned and Aoi sighed.

He laughed and pointed to the floor, "Come on, you two. The low crawl!" He bellowed with a grin.

The two girls grinned too, "The low crawl!" They repeated enthusiastically. They had resigned to accepting their fates, receiving worse punishments than they were just getting. Although, it was not an actual punishment, Sergeant Wang, they saw, was not angry in the least-just throwing in some military fun for their entertainment.

They got down to the ground and began crawling through the hall, their uniforms drenched in mop water and dragging along. Giggles filled the hall as they were neither angry or dismayed, just doing as they were told, "Come on, ladies, let's get this hall cleaned!" Sergeant Wang cackled, hand on his hips as he watched.

"Moving as fast as we can, sarge!" Chie sighed with a grin as she dragged along the floor. Looking up, the hall felt like a mile long.

A door unlocked and Natsuki stepped out, presumably to grab clothes from the laundry room. She stopped halfway through the entrance, an eyebrow lifting as she watched. Chie and Aoi just at her feet, she asked, "The fuck you guys doing?"

"What does it... look like?" Aoi said in between crawls.

"Cleaning the floor, duh!" Chie laughed, continuing along.

"You gotta be kidding me," Natsuki chuckled, pulling out her phone, "I gotta take a video." She began recording the two privates slowly advancing through the hall.

"Oi, Kuga," Sergey called out.

"Yes, sergeant?" She answered back, stopping her video and folding her hands behind her back in parade rest.

"Wanna join them?"

"I'm good, sarge," she grinned.

"Then get your damn clothes and sleep. You've got a PT test," he motioned with his head to the laundry room.

"Will do!" The bluenette waved and slipped into the laundry room, later returning to her room.

After some time, Chie and Aoi finally made it back to Sergey and jumped to their feet. They felt distgusting and smelt of pine, but were damn entertained, as well as fully awake. Sergey, too, had gotten a kick out of it and covered his face, "Damn y'all smell," he laughed, "You can shower and change if you want, as long as it's one at a time. That way someone's still on guard. Oh, and take out the trash afterwards, it's starting to get a bit full."

The girls all too graciously accepted his offer.

...

All too thankful their little activity earlier passed some time, Chie and Aoi werr fresh and clean. They decided to get to taking out the trash for Sergeant Wang, Chie kindly taking the larger trash bag. Aoi stepped out near CQ and took a smaller trashbag, informing the men at CQ that they would be outside for a bit. With free hands, Chie and Aoi pulled their patrol caps out of the pockets and placed them snugly over their heads just before stepping outside.

It was only a short walk to the dumpster out by the PT field in which they laughed and chattered about what had just happened. Aoi held open the dumpster lid and Chie threw in the large bag and returned the favor for Aoi. "I've so got to get Natsuki's video! Mom needs to see it," Aoi giggled. The late summer air was rather cool with a light breeze over Fort Hime and crickets sounding everywhere.

The installation at night was so silent, rarely any car or taxi driving about, and hardly a soul out aside from those still on duty such as the girls. The soldiers in training and even their leadership valued their sleep, the work and school days long and nighttime seemingly so short. Dim lights of the nocturnal privates on their games or laptops, purchased with paychecks they should have saved, lit some windows. All in all, the peace was pleasant to their ears and the moon at half wax. The stars, however, were not visible from the sheer amount of street lights around the training barracks.

Halfway back to the barracks, Chie walked closer to Aoi until they were arm to arm and she stealthily intertwined their fingers. Aoi's fingers twitched, but she did not pull away. The squeeze from the small hand hardly reflected the words out of her mouth, "Chie, someone will see."

The black-haired woman just gave a small smile, "No one passes by this late, it's fine." She said softly, almost inaudibly, but Aoi took some comfort in it and relaxed her grip.

"I guess, I mean we are almost there." The brunette said quietly as if someone would hear in the barracks they slowly closed the distance between. "I wish we didn't have to do this."

"We came in together and we'll leave and go home together, Aoi, just a few more months!" Chie exclaimed optimistically, "It's not so bad, a room to ourselves, a weekend in civvie clothes where we can hang out outside,"

The brunette chuckled softly, "You're right. I guess I just wish we didn't have to hide because of this fraternization rule, although it's understandable why they have it in place."

"It'll be fine when we get to our units." Chie looked up. Indeed, they could be together no problem once training was done. They enlisted as civilian soldiers, working as civilians part of the month, changing uniforms the other. As long as they kept professional in a working environment it was fine. Their relationship outside would be no one's business. They could get married if they wanted, as well. She smiled broadly at that, "Ah..."

Chie felt her head lower from the fingers pulling lightly from behind her neck and she closed her eyes. Surely enough, Aoi's soft lips were on her own and she leaned in some more. The older woman knew the brunette was probably making up for not waking her up with a direct kiss earlier, but Aoi truly just felt like feeling her. Hands calloused from hard work the past few months pressed harder on the back of her neck and another came to Chie's cheek while her own hands held Aoi's waist covered in the digital patterned camouflage.

They had both sacrificed volunteering to enlist while a war would soon break out between the four major countries, the sacrifice including each other. But people needed it, their families did, and they needed it. Aoi had been deathly afraid, their two months separation at basic training draining her, but she was so happy they had each other again in Fort Hime.

Chie had undergone some... changes, after basic and Chie could say the same of Aoi. It wasn't necessarily a bad change, but a confidence installed in them by their training. A personal confidence they held in themselves, as well as each other while they were separated. As soldiers, Windbloom's Army may have had ownership of their lives and bodies, but as Aoi pulled from Chie's lips and stared into the light brown eyes, noticing the absolute love and adoration in them, she knew they would never truly have her Chie.


End file.
